I would consider myself as a plant-person-in-training. I would LOVE to grow into someone with a green-thumb (fingers-crossed) and this has been one of those projects that have launched me towards taking the next steps towards this goal!

A dear friend of mine suggested that I fill an empty space in my kitchen with a living herb wall and I LOVED that idea. I looked at several pinterest pictures and I got to work. There were so many plant wall systems that I loved, but some of them were pretty pricey. I decided to go with the most budget friendly option I could find, and that was the IKEA SUNNERSTA system.  I got all of the parts for the indoor living plant wall (excluding plants) for under $15.

This is actually my second attempt at this project, my first round of plants (they were all herbs) died. Now I know why and am sharing so you don’t make the same mistake!

These little containers were $0.79 each. I purchased 9 of them.

These rails were $1.99 each. We measured to make sure they were spaced out evenly and were level.

Okay let’s talk plants! So I originally bought 6 herbs and planted them directly into the little white containers. That was a HUGE MISTAKE! The water had no where to drain and so the plants died really quickly. I had even put little rocks at the bottom of the containers to help the drainage issue, but that DID NOT WORK.

Here you can see my first attempt with six herbs planted directly into the white Ikea Sunnersta containers. Here they were fully alive and they still look a little sad to me.

For my second attempt, I decided to not only change up the way I planted them in the containers, but also change the plants. I decided to go with low-light house plants that were easy to maintain.

I decided to go with Pothos, Pilodendron scandens, and Fittonia. I ended up buying 3 medium sized plants from Lowes and cutting each plant into thirds to get a total of 9 plants. This cost a whole lot less than buying individual smaller plants.

I took a sharp knife and cut right through the root ball of each plant. I was really nervous doing it, but it totally worked.

Now this next step is really important. I took one of my Ikea white containers and went to a local nursery to find a plastic plant container with drain holes that fit perfectly inside. I found some for only $0.25 each! I planted each section of my cut plants into the plastic containers.

Here is a third of my Philodendron scandens plant happy in its new container.

The drain holes at the bottom are crucial for your indoor plant wall to work!

Next, fill the bottom of each Ikea container with stones, or something like these pictured above that you can find at the dollar store. This helps have the container something to sit on that lets the extra water drain into the bottom so the roots of your plants won’t be soaking in them.

Place your newly potted plant inside!

Now she’s ready to hang on the rail!

It has been a month since I’ve cut and replanted these little plants and I am proud to say that they are STILL HAPPY and HEALTHY! I water them once a week. There have even been a couple of times where I noticed some of the stems were starting to wilt, I watered them, and within 24 hours they perked back up! It’s amazing! This indoor living plant wall has really brought a lot of life into my kitchen. I hope you will enjoy creating your own.

I think this project is turning me into a plant person after all! 😉

Feel free to Pin and Share!